


Youths.

by CateBeLate



Category: Marvel, Marvel AU - Fandom
Genre: F/M, High School AU, It's just your typical romcom high school deal, Lots of unresolved feelings, Nothing Huge, lots of fluff, lots of teasing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 07:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16488539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CateBeLate/pseuds/CateBeLate
Summary: Let's get this straight: Steve hates Natasha. Why? Because he loves her. If that makes sense. To hate her means he can't get hurt if she wasn't interested in him. Too bad for him, fate, his friends, and his own damn feelings would have this going completely opposite of what he wants ( or doesn't want? ). This is all very confusing for him. High school sucks, man.





	Youths.

“You know, for Hercules, you sure are pissy today.” It was a simply observation made by Sam Wilson, who’d taken it upon himself to dress up as Tulio, complete with almost too awful Party City wig to look more the part.

“It’s pretty obvious why he is,” chimed in Bucky, was the other half the dynamic El Dorado duo, Miguel, also complete with a cheesy wig since he had refused to dye his hair blonde, but he was willing to somehow lighten his facial hair. Steve had said something along the lines of their costumes being a hot mess, but they merely ignored him and went on their merry way to be just as punny as the original duo. “Because Nataaaasha is here.”

He played his decorative lyre just for emphasis, which only served to get under Steve’s skin just that much more. This was turning into a massive disaster to top all disasters, even beating out the time he caught on fire in one of his chemistry labs. But much like that time, this wasn’t his fault either. It was a matter of circumstances and coincidences. There’d been an instant where he wondered if there’d been a vendetta the redhead had in mind when she showed up to the Halloween Carnival dressed as . . . as . . . 

Meg. 

Of all the things she could’ve dressed as, it had to be the one person that was actually part of a couples costume. It was one thing that she was in the same place as him - something he generally tended to avoid - but it was another thing entirely to dress like that on Halloween. It was stupid and unfair and all around annoying.

But not as annoying as the kids asking him as Hercules if he’s seen Meg on the other side of the carnival near the Haunted Corn Maze. He played along, but not for Natasha’s sake, but for the kids’ own. He couldn’t care less about that girl. Not even a little. 

Narrator: He cared a lot about her.

Buck and Sam were pretty aware of where this distaste for the Romanoff girl came from, but neither really spoke of it, not since Steve managed to bulk up during puberty and learn that he could actually put up a fight now. They’d brought it up once, and that was enough to garner a cold shoulder that last a week and not because they were wrong. But because they were so incredibly right, and it infuriated Steve. 

He had forced himself to not like Natasha during his scrawnier years. They’d all grown up together, but when those curves started to really make her look unattainable and other people started to notice her, self-preservation had him starting to look for flaws and annoyances. Imagine his surprise when annoyance came from not being able to find anything, but if he held onto it, then he couldn’t get hurt when she went to the Winter Ball with Barton.

Or Homecoming with Matt.

Or when she willingly chose to be Stark’s study buddy for an entire year in Physics.

Not that Steve didn’t get his own attention, most of which came from Maria, Peggy, and ( awkwardly enough ) Peggy’s cousin, Sharon. Buck and Sam were almost constantly bringing them up, and yet every time they did, only a flash of emerald framed in a distinct shade of crimson came to mind, thus putting him in the worst mood imaginable. He knew they were trying to sort of distract him from his own distraught self, but the fact remained the same, no matter how hard he fought it or denied it:

Steve Rogers was in love with Natasha Romanoff, but he’d be damned if he even acted like it.

It really didn’t help that they’d all grown up together. He could still remember that she liked caramel corn over cheddar popcorn. She liked having three shots of espresso in the smallest size macchiato with two shots of hazelnut. She preferred jasmine over vanilla. The curls were natural. She never had braces. To add insult to injury, all these small facts he couldn’t forget manifested every time he grew bored and put pencil to paper. She’d been in ballet since she could walk, and for some damn reason, his homework and notes were littered with varying poses that were undoubtedly ballet figures. And thus, more frustration was born. 

“No- yeah. Why is she even here?” Steve blurted out the question before he could even check himself for how he sounded. Tulio and Miguel looked at him with expressions befit their characters.

“Dude, really? This is a public place. Knock it off and just ignore her,” Sam said, opting to get a wad of cotton candy from a passing candy girl. He couldn’t help himself from striking up a conversation with the girl who he was almost positive was from his Trig class. Steve decided to let Sam do his thing, but he was wholly disappointed in the pair when he turned to find Bucky had basically done the same thing, leaving Hercules all by himself. 

With kids around him.

Oh no.

“Hercules!” One shrill child managed to flag him down, but he’d always been good with kids, so he had no problem at all pandering the the youths. And so, he donned the persona of righteous hero of Ancient Greece when one glance of soft lavender had him deflating almost immediately. “Herc! We found Meg!”

God. Damn. It. 

He was so offended with how ethereal and absolutely good she looked. If there’d been an actual live action rendition of Hercules, he’d be hard-pressed to find anyone better suited than Natasha to play the role of Meg. There was an absolute lack of words as this gaggle of kids pulled Nat forward, who looked like she was mostly forcing herself to play the part as well. So, this was kind of embarrassing. It wasn’t an exact secret that he wasn’t her biggest fan.

When really he was.

This wasn’t going to end well.

“Hey there, golden boy.” That sounded too good coming from her, and it caught him speechless for a hot second, trying to figure out if she was playing a part or not. “Fancy seeing you here. Thought you’d be off fighting a Titan or somethin’ instead of gracing us peasants with his glory.”

She was playing the part. Oh, thank god.

“Well,” he started, palming the back of his neck in feigned humility. “I mean, you and I both know I’d prefer to be down here anyways.”

“Ahuh, is that why they’ve got sandals with your face on ‘em?” Oh my god, she knew the details of the movie. Keep it collected. She probably watched it recently to get the costume right. Not like she actually liked the movie. 

“A picture! We wanna picture!!” Oh god. This was it. This was Steve’s hell. And even worse, just beyond the kids, he could see the El Dorado dickheads watching him and Nat with the biggest shitgrins they could manage. There was an undeniable urge to take a wiffle ball bat to both of them until those smiles went away. 

So, Nat cozied up to Steve, posing like she’s a puzzle piece fitting to his side with her hand on his chest, and wow, she is warm and smells like lavender and is very distracting. No, no - he didn’t like her. A person who didn’t like another person still posed like this for photos, still curled a hand around the curve of her hip, still held her close like he was allowed to.

But thank god, as quick as those kids appeared, they dispersed once more, only to be replaced by two much older kids.

“Hey, Nat,” Sam was quick to keep her there, even as she stepped away from Steve. There was apologetic glance thrown towards Steve, which actually made him feel a little sad. He felt bad, okay, for making her think he hated her. 

“Hey, Sam. Fun night, huh?” She sounded so chipper.

“Oh definitely. There’s a hay ride going on in a few. You guys down or what?” There was a reason to not go on the tip of Steve’s tongue, but that look from the El Dorado Dweebs had him keeping the words behind his teeth. 

“I’m down,” Nat said with a smile. God, her voice just sounded better when she smiled. “I mean, if Steve’s okay with that.”

Oh, he should probably say something.

“Yeah, I mean- why not? It’d be uh, weird if Meg and Hercules didn’t uh . . . hang out. And stuff.”

Smooth. So smooth. Let’s hope the night goes alright.


End file.
